I have a less expensive one and have used it for my Leica and non-Leica lenses alike (all three of my lenses happen to be screw mounts; two are at least 50 years old). I don't know how much it helps, but it arguably can't hurt.

ah thanks deirdre, I've been trawling the forums and have seen posts from people who say coding is necessary but others who have said they've never needed to do it.

Thanks for that link! I have seen some other pages where people have sort of done it themselves by hand and that kind of scares me since I'm not very good with my hands in that way but I might give it a go, he's given some really clear instructions there at a glance.

you need to "swot up" on the Leica, GetDpi and the RF forums - lots of info on those forums and a lens by lens table somewhere amongst all the threads - I'll try to find it when I have a minute

Click to expand...

That's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. It's been such a huge learning curve and I feel like my brain is fried!* A lot of the commentary has been far too technical or detailed and minute for my beginner's understanding, I've benefited more from reviews that use photos as examples of the review. Even so, my beginner's eyes haven't been able to entirely pick out the minute differences in 'before and after' shots so at times I'm left wondering with the greatest of respect if the critique in the imperfection of a particular lens is a purely academic debate for the purists.

I didn't know about GetDPI, I'll check it out now, thanks for the heads up.

* Sincere thanks to deirdre for helping me out a couple of times when I've gotten stuck trying to find or understand a sticking point.

Hi James,
I have been doing a bit of research on this as I am just moving into the rangefinder world with a used M8. From what I have read, coding is most beneficial on lenses 35mm and wider when used on an M8. Apparently these lenses are prone to a cyan colour shift that occurs when IR cut filters are used and the correct lens code triggers the firmware to apply an adjustment to counteract it. The coding also adjusts for vignetting and pairs your exif info with your images. Sean Reid explains it well on his website Reid's Reviews which costs about $35 for a 12 month subscription. Coming from a background of nil rangefinder experience I believe it is the best $35 I've ever spent. The reviews are very professional and cover many lens and camera reviews (SLR and rangefinder) as well as technique. I'm an in no way involved, just a happy customer.

Links in this page may be to our affiliates. Sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.